Cowboys and the Law – the “Cowboy Way”

I recently read a biography of R.B. Masterson, famous cattleman, written by his son-in-law Z.T. Scott in 1930. Scott listed as Masterson’s first outstanding quality his honesty. “Schooled in the days when a man’s word was his bond and elaborate contracts with legal perplexities were unthought of, his sense of honor and justice made valid every promise; and no man may point to an agreement broken or a pledge unkept.” The cowboy way.

Our firm represented a cowboy, a rodeo team roper named Clint Sanders, in a dispute with another roper, Eric Randle, over “mount money.” The Waco Court of Appeals recently affirmed a judgment for Sanders, for $39,501. In affirming the judgment, the Court of Appeals quoted fictional cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy, who suggested that agreements made the “cowboy way” are held to a higher standard. “The highest badge of honor a person can wear is honesty. Be truthful at all times”; “If you want to be respected, you must respect others. Show good manners in every way”; and “Only through hard work and study can you succeed. Don’t be lazy.”

Mount money is known in the rodeo business as the share of winnings a roper pays to the owner of the horse he rides when he borrows another cowboy’s horse. Randle’s horse came up lame and he borrowed Sanders’ horse Tex, and won $158,000. But Randle denied he owed Sanders any mount money. The jury found that he did.

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